


To See You Smile

by BirchWood



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Happy Birthday Lance (Voltron), Lance Loves Sharks, M/M, Scheming Friends, THEREFORE he gets a shark themed birthday party, Therefore he loves Shark Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 20:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21307799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirchWood/pseuds/BirchWood
Summary: “Dude,” Hunk copies, “we know you’re inloveand everything, but you’re gonna make us look like bad friends,” he jokes.Keith sinks lower into the couch and pulls his legs up. He rests his notebook on his knees, which hides him from Hunk but not from Pidge and her playful glaring.“I just want him to have a good birthday,” he mumbles quietly.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 143





	To See You Smile

“Keith, where the hell are we supposed to get shark-themed shit in Arizona?”

Keith shrugs, ignoring Pidge as he continues writing a list of the things they’ll need to get. 

“Not everything has to have sharks on it, like we can try for a water theme, but we need some stuff. Like little kid plates, or balloons or something. How about the cake?” He turns to Hunk, who was already waving a hand at him dismissively. 

“Got it covered, dude. I won’t be able to make anything super fancy like I want, but I can make some blue frosting that isn’t completely ugly.”

Keith opened his mouth to ask about what other snacks they should have, when Pidge bumps into his shoulder. She pushes against him to look around at Hunk on his other side.

“ What kind of cake is it?”

“Vanilla almond,” Hunk answers with a proud grin.

Pidge scrunches her nose, frown twisting as she sinks back into her seat. “Disgusting. But it’s not my birthday so whatever. What else are we gonna have?” The three of them stared at each other in silence. Keith sighs. 

“Well we’re all poor, so let’s just chip in for pizza. We still have a bunch of sodas so we should be good on drinks.”

Hunk nods in agreement. “Sounds good, but we should definitely get it from Salazar’s. Little more expensive, but definitely more worth it. And Lance loves their margherita pizza.”

Keith writes that down, and taps his pen against his notebook. 

“Cool. Just need some decorations.”

“Do we, though?” Pidge questions. Keith glares at her. He gets that it’s kind of dumb to be buying what will most likely be children’s throw-away decorations for a birthday party, much less for a man who hasn’t celebrated one in about a decade, but that’s exactly why Keith wants to do it. 

Lance once told him that he stopped celebrating his birthdays because they fell at the end of summer, right before school started. And with five kids to buy new supplies for, he always felt guilty asking his parents for any kind of party or special activity. Instead, he celebrates by feeding into his love of sharks by watching the yearly Shark Week marathon on TV. And for the last two years, forcing Keith to watch as well. The first time was just because Keith had nothing else to do as Lance hogged their shared TV, but by the second year it turned into an opportunity to sink into Lance’s bed and laze about for a week of bad food choices. 

It was also by that time where huddling close together in his bed became an indulgent habit of theirs.

Keith has gained a fair deal of softness for Lance, and he wants to make this one of the best birthday’s he’s ever had. So he smooshes Pidge into the arm of the couch by pressing all his weight against her, pulling his legs up onto the cushions and turning his body to face Hunk as she squirms under his back.

“Do you think we should do gifts too?" he asks, "or is the party enough?”

“The party is enough!” Pidge yells as she gives a hard push. Keith’s body lurches forward for a second before falling back against her. She yells some more as Keith keeps pushing back and raising his brows at Hunk.

Hunk hums and looks around their tiny living room. “Well, I definitely think we can do small gifts," he says. "Like, since we have a morning class together I was going to get him one of those giant coconut mocha frappes he loves so much.”

Pidge hooks her chin over Keith’s shoulder so her snark can be clearly heard.

“What, no shark theme for the gifts either?”

Keith raises his arm up, sliding Pidge’s head off and forcing her to face the stench of his armpit. Her struggling escalates to full on screams, and Hunk erupts in laughs. It’s amidst the chaos that Keith just barely hears the floorboard right outside their front door squeak. Pidge and Hunk are too busy making noise to notice, so Keith just slams his notebook closed and shoves it between the cushions under his butt as the door opens and Lance shuffles in. 

He pauses in the doorway, locking eyes with Keith as Pidge continues jostling him and Hunk starts gasping for breath. 

Lance lets his backpack slide off his shoulder to thump on the ground, and he wanders over to flop down across all three of them on the couch. Keith gets the brunt of Lance’s boney butt on his legs, plus his upper body pressing into his chest. If Pidge wasn’t so busy trying to pinch them, the warm weight of Lance would probably make him melt. He smiles a bit when Lance dramatically throws an arm over his eyes. Hunk pulls himself out from under Lance’s legs and hobbles over to their armchair so he can catch his breath. Pidge stops moving, and has either finally accepted her fate or suffocated.

He pokes Lance in the ribs, but he barely twitches. Keith swears he sees a smile peeking out from under his arm though, so he digs his fingers into Lance’s ribs and starts tickling. Lance jerks his whole body off the couch, rolling away on the carpet to escape Keith’s torture. Keith laughs and finally scoots forward. Pidge takes in large, exaggerated gulps of air. Lance laughs too and stretches out on the carpet, before springing up to his feet. 

“Dibs on first shower!” 

He sprints down the hall to his room for clothes, and Keith smiles after him. They usually bickered over who got to shower first, since they both preferred to rinse the desert heat off of their skin as soon as they were done with classes. But Keith was using this opportunity to scheme, and he needed the help of Pidge and Hunk. So he turns the TV on for background noise as Lance gathers his things, and Hunk starts talking about what he’s planning to do over the summer. The second they hear Lance shuffle into the bathroom and turn the water on, Hunk cuts himself off and Keith yanks his notebook back out. 

Keith looks over their list one more time and nods to himself. 

“Okay, I think we’ve got everything. When do you guys wanna set this up?”

"Doesn't matter to me," Pidge shrugs. “We’ve still got like 2 months so it’s not that big of a rush. I’m chilling here this summer cause of that internship, so anytime outside of those hours is good for me.”

“I’m going home this summer,” Hunk interrupts, “but I can come back a little early if we’re doing this on his birthday? Or did you want to make it a full surprise and do it earlier?”

“We can just do it on his birthday,” Keith replies, “he’s not expecting anything anyway.”

Hunk nods. 

“Cool. Do you guys already have a present idea?”

Keith ducks his head into his chest, not wanting to admit he found a couple things for Lance weeks ago. Pidge tilts her head up as she thinks. 

“I have these goldfish hair clips he’d probably think are cute. My aunt sent them in a care package, clearly without knowing anything about what I like, so I’ve been using them as bookmarks. But Lance can use them when he puts on his face masks. I can actually grab one of those too now that I think about it.”

“Ooh good idea Pidge,” Hunk says, “he did say he was getting low on them. We should look at some together.” He looks over to Keith. “What about you man, do you already have something?”

When he doesn’t immediately answer, or look up from his hiding place, Pidge scoots closer. She jabs her sharp elbow into his ribs.

“Ooh what’d you get him~” she singsongs. 

Keith nudges her away and focuses on the writing in his notebook. 

“Not much. But I found a cool blanket online that has a shark hood on it, and it’s really soft. And I got him some of his favorite candies, and popcorn because they’re cheap. And I also got some-”

“Dude!” Pidge interrupts, miffed. Hunk just starts laughing again. 

“Dude,” Hunk copies, “we know you’re in _love_ and everything, but you’re gonna make us look like bad friends,” he jokes. 

Keith sinks lower into the couch and pulls his legs up. He rests his notebook on his knees, which hides him from Hunk but not from Pidge and her playful glaring. 

“I just want him to have a good birthday,” he mumbles quietly. 

Pidge calls him a sap, and Hunk playfully boos him. His scoffs at them both and closes his notebook. 

“Whatever, I’ll let y’all know if I can find any decorations or anything. Speaking of changing the subject, don’t you have a paper to be working on?” he directs to Pidge, who scoffs loudly. 

“Just say you want us to leave, loser. We’ll see you both at lunch tomorrow.”

Pidge crawls her way out of the depths of the couch cushions and stretches. Hunk stands next and packs away the books he didn’t bother pretending to study with. He slings his backpack over his shoulder and heads to the door to slip his shoes on, Pidge sluggishly following behind. He gets up to follow them, leaving his notebook tossed on the couch. Hunk opens the door and steps out into the hall as Pidge puts her own shoes on and bumps amicably into Keith on her way out. 

“Let the other loser know we said bye.”

“Later Keith!” Hunk says as he walks away. 

Keith waves them both off and locks the door behind them. He goes into the kitchen for a drink as he hears the shower turn off. He starts browsing their cabinets for a snack when Lance wanders in, a towel wrapped around his head and swaddled in a big fluffy robe. 

“Wow, abandoned before I could even say goodbye to them. Harsh.” He deadpans. 

Keith snorts, but when he turns around his heart jumps to his throat when he sees Lance holding his notebook. He’s just moving it off the couch so he can sit, but Keith panics. He rushes into their living area and vaults the couch, snatching the notebook away and sitting on it. Lance stays frozen and stares at his empty hand. He looks down at Keith. 

“Nothing!” He yells before Lance can even ask about it. A mistake really, but before Lance’s smile can grow, and before his hands can reach out Keith strikes first. He grabs Lance and pulls him to lay down onto the couch beside him, towel flying off his head, and then throws his whole body over him. Lance makes outraged noises from where he’s pinned as Keith looks over his shoulder to kick his notebook to the floor. 

When he turns back to Lance he leans down and starts peppering kisses all over his face, making loud smacking noises until Lance stops trying to escape and starts laughing instead. After he makes sure Lance has been thoroughly smooched he leans back to let Lance catch his breath, and uses the opportunity to bury his face in Lance’s neck and inhale the soft woodsy scent of his body wash. 

“Don’t think you can distract me forever,” Lance threatens, “I know you all were scheming.” 

“No schemes,” Keith fibs, “just working on something that you can’t see yet.” For good measure he lifts back up to kiss Lance again, one solid press to his mouth. Lance hums and runs his hands up Keith back. When he pulls away Lance’s glare is too clouded over by his happy expression to be truly intimidating. 

“I’ll discover your schemes,” Lance whispers, determined. He twists until they’re laying on their sides, squished together on their tiny couch. Keith adjusts until he’s comfortable, letting himself relax. 

They’ll probably lay here until they get hungry enough to make dinner, but for now Keith tries popping the giddy bubbles in his chest. Just knowing how surprised Lance will be over the party makes it hard to keep it a secret, but it's worth it. Keith just hopes it’s the first of many special birthdays they get to have together.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick reminder that I'm moving these dabbles over from Instagram, and that's why I'm posting Lance's birthday fic randomly in November.


End file.
